Fodor's may use your email address to send you relevant information on site updates, account changes, and offers. For more information about your privacy and protection, please review our full Privacy Policy.

Provence market

Saw a post from April but still a little confused as some guides say different things. Will be in Provence with Avignon as a base arriving Sept. 30th. Have a week to explore. Which market is best Arles or St. Remy. I am looking for "charm" and a mix of food, textiles, crafts. How is the Avignon market? I read that L'Isle Sur la Sourge is good but the person didn't say why. I saw the website that showed many, many markets but are there any that people would highlight for me and why they make that recommendation? Sadly we won't be in Provence for any of the Sat. or Sun. markets.

All the markets you mentioned are charming, but their primary difference is in their individual architecture as backdrops to the market settings. But they all have good size markets, with plenty of food, textiles and local craft items for sale. Arles to me is worth a day trip to explore regardless of the market, as there is so much to see in that town. St Remy is a smaller place, but the market is atmospheric in the central square, and you can visit the Glannum ruins and the St Paul Asylum where Van Gogh stayed in the afternoon (after a market day lunch menu somewhere in the village!). Also near St Remy is Les Baux, worth a visit too. L'Isle sur la Sorgue is a very picturesque town, set right in the middle of the river, but I don't remember it having as many 'tourist attractions' as the other two places. If you like pottering in shops, it has many good brocantes and antique shops.

I have a book called Markets of Provence by Dixon Long with Foreword by Patricia Wells. Don't know if it's still in print, but very good. Here are the markets they feature. Monday Cadenet, Tuesday La Tour d'Aigues,
Wed. St. Remy, thurs. Aix an Provence,

Friday Bonnieux, Saturday, Apt, sunday L'Isle sure la Sorgue. It's a great picture book. So you can see what you will see.
Also recommend just going on google to search for markets in Provence. At a minimum you'll get a list of markets by day of the week and you can work with your schedule.

We love them all. Something wonderful wherever there is a market. You'll have a wonderful time.

One thing, I would not do, however, is go to the Sunday Ile sur Soarge market. it is primarily antiques, and I like flowers and produce and meat and fish, rather than pots and ancient chairs. Up to you.

I agree with others, that on the same day you should not visit the market and also visit the town to see what the town has to offer. These should be separate trips - the market "masks" the town, IMO - especially St Remy & Uzes.

We visited the Arles and the St. Remy markets while in Provence several years ago. We loved both but the Arles market was huge and diverse and quite astounding. It had everything from live chickens and rabbits to clothes to bedding plants to fresh and prepared foods of every sort. We have looked all over Europe, including France, for a market that came close to either of these without success.